ANIMAL LA

ANIMAL LA is the Los Angeles branch of ANIMAL, the Brooklyn queer bar. It opened in 2026 at 428 S Hewitt Street, in the space that used to be Resident, on the border between the Arts District and Little Tokyo. The founders, Jim Morrison Hevert and Ashton Correa, kept the formula of the original: a big, unpretentious queer bar that works for an afternoon drink and also for dancing late. The venue has several rooms that open onto a patio, with food pop-ups and food trucks outside. The music is house, disco and global dance sounds. Local LA DJs play alongside rising names and touring national and international guests. Cocktails are reasonably priced for downtown. The Infatuation reported no cover charge on regular nights. Special parties may be ticketed, so check the bar's Instagram. Time Out lists the hours as Tuesday to Friday 4pm to 2am and Saturday and Sunday 2pm to 2am. Monday is usually closed. The crowd is young, mixed and gender-expansive: gay men, queer women, trans and non-binary people. The bar runs a zero-tolerance safe-space policy. It is 21+ with government photo ID. The Arts District is a short ride from Precinct, Kiso and the New Jalisco Bar in the Historic Core, so ANIMAL fits easily into a DTLA bar crawl. The nearest Metro stop is Little Tokyo/Arts District. Streets around Hewitt are quiet late at night, so use a rideshare home.